Life In Moments
by ThatGuyYouKnew
Summary: Interactions between McKay and Cadman throughout the series. See A/N for more details.
1. Watch Where You're Going!

A/N - Okay, the beginning of this is going to be a series of shorts, most no longer than about 1,000 words each, centered around the interactions of Cadman and McKay (and Keller, but not as much as the other two) from the start of season 2 onwards. This is going to be the groundwork for a continuation of the series that I'm working on, and want to make sure some of the information is in place before I get to that point. I'm going to try and stay as Canon as possible, but some things won't be (obviously).

Oh, and you can blame BiteMeTechie (one of my favorite writers) and her story 'I'm Not!' and its companion piece 'And Neither Am I' for motivating me to write a McKadman fic, it's what I do :). But seriously, go check them out, they are truly awesome!

* * *

Introductions A.K.A. Watch Where You're Going!

Rodney was striding down the hallway tapping away harshly on his tablet, said tablet was being balanced precariously on a stack of files and reports he still needed to go through. Still tapping away and muttering about the general incompetence and stupidity of his team and anyone in general that wasn't him, a part of him was glad that the siege was over; the rest of him was just waiting for the next big disaster that he had to fix to strike.

Being _completely_ engrossed in the _very_ important task of getting the city functional again, he was paying very little attention to his surroundings as he continued on his way. He was secure in the fact that people would move out of _his_ path, as they had been doing almost the entire time the expedition had been there. He turned a corner to head to his lab when he crashed into someone rushing in the opposite direction, sending them both crashing to the floor in a spectacular shower of paper and curses.

"Watch where you're going!" He snapped at the figure sprawled in front of him. He was still exhausted from the siege _and_ trying to get the city back in working order _and_ fixing the mistakes that everyone else seemed to make on an hourly basis, but he flat out refused to let anyone else (Zelenka) take charge so he could get some much needed rest. There was only so far you could go on stimulants and coffee alone, but he seemed to be trying to push even further on sheer stubbornness alone. Unfortunately the lack of sleep and recent stresses meant he was more annoying and unbearable than usual.

"I could say the same to you," the woman snapped back just as viciously. She climbed to her feet quickly and stomped off around the corner in a swirl of strawberry blond hair before his exhausted mind could even formulate an appropriately sarcastic comeback, leaving a slightly shocked and suddenly thoroughly confused Rodney wondering what exactly just happened.


	2. Must You Always Complain?

The Intruder A.K.A. Must You Always Complain?

Rodney was glad to be back in Atlantis. After dealing with the Wraith computer virus on the Daedalus and all of the politics and red tape and general crap back at the SGC, being back home was nice to say the least. He wasn't sure when he started considering Atlantis 'home', but he did, and he liked it that way. Heading to the infirmary with Carson (nosebleeds suck) and complaining the entire way, Rodney was glad things were back to normal. He knew for a fact that Carson was ignoring him for the most part and just making noises of agreement at the appropriate times, but he didn't mind that much. It was normal.

"Why must we go all the way to the Voodoo Room to take care of this?" Rodney complained for the fifth time in as many minutes. "Don't you carry anything around to help with something as simple as nosebleeds?"

"Aye, I do, but I also wanted to make sure your insides aren't jumbled up and that you aren't missing anything important after using the transporter on the Daedalus in the manner that you did," Carson said offhandedly as they entered the infirmary, or as Rodney called it, 'The Bastion of the Dark Arts' or more recently, 'The Voodoo Room'. Carson knew nothing was missing or rearranged, but the momentary panic on Rodney's face was more than worth the time to run a few pointless tests.

"Oh please, if I was missing anything I'd know by now," Rodney retorted after a second, hopping up on to a bed and letting Carson do his voodoo.

Considering how much he complained about medicine and doctors 'practicing voodoo on him', Carson wondered briefly how someone so against medicine as a science could spend so much time in the infirmary, let alone have a 'Preferred Shaman'.

Carson and Rodney continued to bicker about the validity of medicine and whether or not it's an actual science, briefly interspersed with comments about how the vast majority of his staff didn't deserve the title of Doctor. Carson finished up and went to run a few more tests before releasing Rodney back to work.

Waiting on Carson to get back, Rodney's grumbling and complaining was interrupted by a slightly familiar and very snarky female voice demanding, "Must you always complain?"

"If you don't like it you can-" Rodney started to snap back as he turned around, only to stop when he saw the condition of the soldier in the bed next to him. "-move." He finished lamely realizing the woman couldn't really leave the bed she was in, considering she was hooked up to an IV drip and an EEG and had a brace around her right ankle. He recognized her vaguely from somewhere, he just couldn't place it at the moment.

Fortunately Carson took that moment to reappear. "Please stop antagonizing Lieutenant Cadman, Rodney," Carson said blandly, looking over the test results one last time to give the appearance that he was making sure he didn't miss anything. He closed the folder with a sigh and looked at Rodney sadly. "I'm afraid I have some bad news Rodney," Carson said, pausing for a moment to enjoy the look of panic quickly appearing on McKay's face. He finally cracked a smile a said, "I'm going to have to inflict a horrible pain upon the population of Atlantis," he paused again briefly before continuing, "you're free to go."

The panic on Rodney's face was quickly replaced with a scowl as the marine behind him tried to smother her laughter under a cough quite unsuccessfully. "Oh very funny Carson," he snapped, turning quickly to the lieutenant he continued, "and if you ever want to have hot water again and don't want to know what Atlantis' sewage system smells like every time you enter your quarters, along with whatever else I can think of on the way down to my lab, you'll shut up as well." Finally finished here, Rodney strode out of the Voodoo Room as quickly as he could without looking like he was running away.

"God that man is impossible to deal with!" Cadman exclaimed as soon as Rodney was out of earshot. "He's so damn arrogant!"

"Aye, that he is, but he can also back it up," Carson replied quite pointedly. "He does tend to save the city on at least a monthly basis." Satisfied that his point had been made, Carson left a suitably chastised Lieutenant Cadman to continue her recovery in silence.

_Looks like I found a new explosive to study_, Cadman thought to herself. _One Dr. Rodney McKay_.


	3. WindUp

Duet Part 1 A.K.A. Wind-Up

AR-1 & 2 were getting ready to go through the gate to check out a planet of allies they had lost contact with. They suspected the Wraith, but they were all hoping that wasn't the case. The tension in the air was palpable. This wasn't the first time they had lost contact with an ally, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but that still didn't make it any easier.

Rodney and John were arguing about team placement while searching on the planet. Specifically, they were arguing about Rodney being placed with Lieutenant Cadman while off-world.

Rodney seriously believed Sheppard did it _just _to annoy the hell out of him.

No one would say it, but they all thought Rodney was right about that.

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard _knew_ Rodney was right. He had to get his kicks somewhere, and winding up Rodney was just _so much fun_.

Colonel Sheppard ended the argument with Rodney and turned to the rest of the group, giving orders as he did so. Rodney sighed and walked over to join Carson and Lieutenant Cadman.

"So, Carson has been telling me stories about your time in Atlantis before I got here," Cadman said, turning and shooting an amused grin at Rodney.

Rodney face went through quite a number of emotions in less than a second before settling on annoyance. Panic, fear, pride, and guilt, however, were the most noticeable and interesting to Cadman. Most of the emotions were pretty normal for anyone remembering the first year on Atlantis, but the guilt... That intrigued her. What did he have to feel guilty about? Must have been one hell of an event. She resolved to get some of these stories from McKay himself, even if she had to get him drunk to do it. She was a Marine, if she couldn't out-drink one scientist, she'd eat her beret, patch at all.

"What stories has he been telling?" Rodney asked, eying Carson with suspicion.

Cadman just gave a Cheshire grin as the Stargate activated and said, "good ones," before heading through after everyone else, leaving McKay to demand the information from Carson.


	4. Awkward

Duet Part 2 A.K.A. Awkward

Rodney had to admit, snapping at Elizabeth in the lab like he did was probably not the best way to ensure he stayed working on the Wraith Dart, but Cadman had such a _special_ way of getting under his skin and irritating him like no one else could, not even Sheppard.

And now he had to go talk to Dr. Heightmeyer. Just. Great.

And as he ran his hand over the sensor to alert the doctor that someone was there to see her, he had a sudden thought. He _really_ hoped Heightmeyer didn't mention his weekly visits.

The door opened and Kate Heightmeyer looked rather confused. Seeing the look on his face, she tilted her head to the side and stood to the side to let him in as she asked, "Rodney? It's not time for your weekly session yet, what's wrong?"

He _really_ should have learned not to hope for anything by now.

_Weekly session?_ Cadman asked, once again thoroughly intrigued. _You come here every week?_

Rodney froze mid-step and hung his head, letting out a sigh of frustration and trying unsuccessfully not to lose his temper again. "Yes," he sneered, looking off to the side away from Dr. Heightmeyer. "I come here every week, any other rather personal questions you'd like to ask, Cadman? Maybe you'd like to know just how bad my home life was?"

Damn it. He _really_ didn't mean to say _that_.

But it did shut Cadman up for a moment. That was nice.

Dr. Heightmeyer looked rather confused at him talking to Cadman as if she was there. Rodney saw this and after a brief explanation they sat down to start the session.

One that was going to prove to be _very_ awkward.


	5. Quite A Lot To Learn

Duet Part 3 A.K.A. Quite A Lot To Learn

Cadman was silent for once while John was apologizing to Rodney for giving the order to shoot down the Wraith dart. It shocked her a bit that McKay honestly didn't place any blame on John for their current predicament, and she knew he wasn't lying, sharing the same body meant they shared the same senses, and she could also _feel_ his emotions and sometimes, when emotions were running high and he wasn't concentrating on holding things back, one or two of his thoughts filtered through. While that was quite disconcerting for the first little while, she had gotten used to it a bit and it was interesting to see how McKay reacted inside his head compared to what he was actually doing or saying.

Chewing out the lab techs for making a mistake for instance.

Originally, she would have thought _anger_ would have been the primary emotion there, but it wasn't.

It was _panic_.

He was panicking because if something went wrong and the dart was damaged any more, Cadman might not _have_ a body to get back to. It kind of surprised her that in that moment he was more worried about the condition of _her_ body, not getting her out of _his_ head. And if anything else went wrong, and one of the scientists were injured, he took it personally, as if it was a failure on _his_ part.

And it wasn't the first time he was more worried about someone than he was about himself, either. He just hid it quite well under layers upon layers of sarcasm, ego, and quite a bit of yelling and berating.

_It seems I have quite a lot to learn about McKay_, Cadman thought to herself.


	6. Just A Nightmare

Duet Part 4 A.K.A. Just A Nightmare

So the test on the lab mice didn't go so well.

Being fried like an overdone drumstick was decidedly _not_ appealing to either of them.

For once, Rodney didn't know how he was going to fix this. It was starting to get quite difficult to concentrate and some of the things he knew off the top of his head he had to search for now, and_ that_ was not sitting well with him.

Also, being able to pull up intricacies about explosives off the top of his head that he didn't know a week ago was a bit more troubling. It was definitely something he needed to talk to Cadman about, but he was _far_ too tired at the moment. Stumbling into his room, he kicked off his shoes and dropped into bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow.

* * *

"_How do we know that you won't kill us once we give you what you need?" Elizabeth asked, her voice not wavering despite the fear Rodney knew she must be feeling._

_"You don't," Kolya said blandly. "Please show my men where they can find what they are looking for," he continued, nodding to Sora and some of the other soldiers. They took Elizabeth by the arms and lead her away without a word._

_Suddenly, being alone with Kolya and the rest of the Genii soldiers seemed like a very bad thing. More so than usual at least, which was really saying something. McKay's fear was quickly turning into terror._

_Kolya waited until he heard the transporter engage before he stepped closer to Rodney. "What are you doing here," he asked._

_McKay was confused for all of a nanosecond before he figured out the underlying meaning behind the question. He knew he had to delay as long as possible, maybe he could even convince Kolya that he was just making sure everyone got away from the city before the storm hit. He wasn't counting on it though, he really was a bad liar. "My understanding, I'm being held hostage," he said defiantly, trying and failing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. It really wouldn't do to antagonize the crazy Genii with a gun._

_Kolya smiled, actually pleased with the physicist's defiance. "I mean here in Atlantis." His smile fell and he continued in a dangerous tone. "Why did some of you stay behind?"_

_"Oh," McKay said, reaching for anything that could delay the inevitable torture he knew he was facing. "Tie up some loose ends." It wasn't great, but it was vague enough that it might by him a few extra seconds._

_"Like what," Kolya asked quickly._

_Apparently that few extra seconds was going to total about ten. "You know, make sure everyone got out okay," McKay responded with a half-smile. It wasn't really a lie, he was doing that at first._

_"Isn't that the work of someone less... important," Kolya asked pointedly, obviously not buying that as the only reason McKay was still there._

_McKay gave a nervous laugh and said, "You'd think so, wouldn't you?"_

_Kolya scrutinized him and McKay shrank slightly under his gaze. "You have a plan, don't you," he asked softly._

_McKay's eyes never left Kolya's as he said, "I've got lots of plans about lots of things."_

_"I'm interested in the plan you have to save the city," Kolya responded evenly, his tone making it obvious he knew there was a plan, he just wasn't sure what it was. Yet._

_"I never said anything about saving anything," McKay responded far too quickly to be true._

_Kolya puts his hand on Rodney's shoulder, almost in a friendly manner, but the look in his eyes was far from friendly. "Not yet," he said, nodding to a soldier standing behind Rodney. The soldier gave a small smile and drew out a long sharp knife in one smooth motion. He obviously knew how to handle it, which filled Rodney with no small amount of fear._

_When they started cutting on him, he whimpered and eventually screamed, but didn't say anything._

_Punching and kicking him just made him groan and beg for it to stop, but he still kept everything to himself._

_It wasn't until they said they'd do everything they had done to him and quite a bit more to Elizabeth that he broke and told them. Torturing him was one thing, but the things they said about Elizabeth..._

_So he broke. He told them everything._

* * *

McKay and Cadman both woke up stifling a scream. Panting and soaked with sweat, McKay ran to the bathroom and promptly dropped to his knees in front of the toilet and vomited.

A few minutes later and still breathing heavily, he climbed to his feet and flushed, turning to the sink to rinse the bile taste out of his mouth and splash cold water on his face in an effort to calm himself down. He completely forgot about the presence of Cadman in his head until she spoke, startling him and making him jump, causing him to fling a handful of water all over the bathroom.

_What the hell was that?_ Cadman asked softly. She was sorry she startled him, but her curiosity got the better of her. She had had her share of nightmares, but that felt _far_ too real to be _just_ a nightmare. She had heard about the storm in their first year and the wild speculation about what happened was still floating around the base, but no one who was actually there would talk about it.

And if that was as real as she suspected it was, she could completely understand why.

Rodney dropped his face into his hands and sighed. She could feel him trying to compose himself and shake off the residual shame coursing through him. "Just a nightmare, Cadman," he said softly, looking into the mirror and giving a weak smile as he tried to reassure her. "Don't worry about it."

That alone worried her. McKay wasn't one to hold back from saying anything, and reassuring people was decidedly _not_ a priority in McKay's book. _Talk to me McKay,_ she said. She felt his hesitance and decided to try to appeal to his logic. _If we're going to be sharing a body, I'd like to know what I'm getting in to,_ she continued softly.

Rodney sighed and started telling her about the storm and the Genii invasion of Atlantis. He was surprisingly candid about it, given the fact that it was McKay and he had a habit of embellishing his own accomplishments and simply glossing over anyone else's. By the time he was done his throat was dry and his hands were shaking slightly. He took a few deep breaths and got a drink of water, trying to calm his nerves.

Cadman was silent for a moment before she spoke. _It wasn't your fault Rodney,_ she told him, ignoring his scoff of disbelief. _There wasn't anything more you could do._

"I could have not said anything," Rodney retorted, but his words lacked the bite they usually did.

_And let them do everything they did to you and more to Dr. Weir?_ Cadman asked. She knew the only way she was going to be able to help was to appeal to his logic. It was one of the only things that would almost always work. _We both know if anything had happened to her the whole expedition would suffer, _she reminded him. _And you know that just as well as I do._

Rodney sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I know," he said softly. "I just can't help but feel like I failed."

Cadman was shocked to say the least at that confession. Rodney openly admitting something like that was a rarity that she doubted any but his team had ever seen, and even then she wasn't sure about that. _You didn't fail Rodney,_ She heard his scoff and decided to try something else. _Okay, let's say you didn't say anything. What would have happened next?_ she questioned.

"They would have done that and more to Elizabeth," he said without hesitation.

_And could you live with that better than this? _she continued. _Or did you simply chose the lesser of two bad choices?_ She decided to push a bit and said, _At least this way you were the one one who had to suffer, and you spared Dr. Weir a lot of pain she might not have been able to deal with._

Rodney sighed and ran his hands over his face tiredly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

_Damn straight I'm right,_ Cadman said, the smile evident in her voice. She was glad she could help him, even if it was only minimally and temporary. _Now, let's go get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow_.

Rodney gave a weak chuckle and said, "Good idea. Goodnight Cadman. And... Thanks."

_Anytime Rodney,_ Cadman replied. She was only slightly surprised that she truly meant it.


	7. Lunch

Duet Part 5 A.K.A. Lunch

The separation worked, Rodney and Cadman were now in their respective bodies. Rodney was sitting at a table in the mess with John and Teyla eating lunch the day after being released from the infirmary. Ronon had declined to join them, instead heading to the gym for some sparring. Rodney didn't mind that in the least, he was still a bit uncomfortable with the big guy.

John and Teyla had given Rodney's plate an odd look when he sat down, but didn't say anything about the fact that he had a salad on his plate, and they immediately noticed the distinct lack of coffee or anything resembling caffeine, opting for water instead. And no blue Jello or any kind of dessert. Any one of those things (other than the caffeine) wasn't anything strange, but in concert it was quite strange.

They made small talk for a few minutes while they arranged their food on their trays, noticing immediately when Rodney set the salad in front of his tray absently and turned his plate so the double helping of fries was closer to the salad and set his drink off to the side. They were about to ask about his sudden change in eating habits when Cadman flopped down in the seat across from Rodney without so much as a hello.

John was about to say something when he noticed Cadman's tray. She had two slices of pizza on two separate plates, a lot of ketchup with no fries, two mugs of coffee, two rolls, and a bowl of blue Jello. This was all odd to say the least, seeing as Cadman had a bit of a thing about eating healthy and not drinking a lot of caffeine.

Cadman struck up a conversation with Teyla as she traded one of the plates with pizza for the salad that Rodney had set off his tray and slid one of the mugs of coffee absently into Rodney's hands without looking, Rodney doing the same with his (or her) water.

John and Teyla shared a look as Cadman started eating some of the fries off of Rodney's plate as he swiped one of her rolls. They almost felt they were intruding on something somewhat intimate as they watched the two of them eating of the other's tray just as often as they ate off of their own.

Cadman turned to Rodney and asked, "So?"

Rodney rolled his eyes and made a complicated gesture with his hands, causing Cadman to chuckle. Rodney raised one eyebrow questioningly at Cadman and said, "Well?"

Cadman just sighed and shrugged, gaining a reproachful glare from Rodney and a question of "Why not?"

Cadman returned the glare and responded with, "And you?"

This time it was Rodney's turn to sigh and say, "Fine, tonight," causing Cadman to smile and give a quick nod.

"What the hell is going on with you two?" John asked, thoroughly confused with the conversation.

That caused both of them to turn to the Colonel and ask simultaneously, "What are you talking about?" The fact that they had the same exact confused look on their faces would have been funny if John wasn't so freaked out by all of this.

"I'm talking about the fact that a week ago you two couldn't stand each other," John said. "And now you're sharing your food with each other, talking without actually talking, and actually getting along."

"We shared a body Sheppard," Rodney replied, glaring at his friend. With that he finished up and looked at Cadman, holding up his tablet at he did so. Cadman just nodded at him, and with that they both stood up and went their separate ways without another word.

John looked at Teyla, who looked just as confused as he felt. "Well that was weird."


End file.
